East Union pitcher Joe Alvarez stymied host Manteca for nearly the whole game Monday, taking a shutout into the seventh inning with two outs when Rex Watson sneaked an RBI single between first and second to get the Buffaloes on the board.

Lancers coach Dan Bauer pulled Alvarez, and then a hit batter and bases-loaded walk brought in another Manteca run, putting the walk-off run on first base. Fortunately for East Union, a towering fly ball to right fielder Brayden Camara ended the game, giving the Lancers a 4-2 win in the Valley Oak League baseball finale.

“Joe (Alvarez) threw fantastic,” Bauer said. “We have been working with him. He is a freshman, so it has been a slow build for him. He was fantastic.

“We are young, and about halfway through the year we told the kids being young was not an excuse any more, that we are ball players and we needed to clean things up – and we have.”

This was no ordinary win for East Union (8-7 VOL, 16-10 overall). It knocked Manteca (8-7, 19-7-1) into the fourth VOL playoff slot.

“This was big for us,” Bauer said. “We wanted to get that three seed coming out of the VOL. One of our goals at the beginning of the year was to win the so-called city championship, so we wanted to take care of that and we did. Hopefully, this will get us a home game in the playoffs.

Alvarez struck out five and allowed four hits, at one time retiring seven in a row.

“It felt great,” Alvarez said. “My two-seam was running, the slider was moving and everything was on point.

“I was working with my catcher, and we were working together and it was amazing.”

Carson Sanders was Alvarez’s catcher, going 2 for 4 with an RBI.

“Joe (Alvarez) was shoving,” Sanders said. “His two-seam was moving and his slider was accurate.

“At the plate, I was trying to get everybody going, playing for the we instead of the me.”

The Lancers scored a pair of runs in the third inning to go ahead 3-0. Jackson Fay (2-4) started the frame off by beating out an infield single. Sanders advanced him on a sacrifice bunt, he took third on a flyout by Blake Mount and scored on a single by Kirk Simoni.

Alvarez doubled Simoni to third and Simoni scored on an infield single by Brayden Camara.

“It was a really good team win,” Simoni said. “Pitching was great, defense was great.

“At the plate we all did our jobs, just passing the bat to the next person to get runs. That is the name of the game and we tried to execute that to the best of our abilities.”

Edward Anthony was hit by a pitch to start the Buffaloes seventh as was Cameron Jimenez to give Manteca runners at first and second with one out. Jeremy Cross hit into a fielder’s choice, forcing Jimenez.

Anthony scored on Watson’s single and Cross eventually came around on a bases-loaded walk.

“We battled back,” Manteca coach Mark Ruiz said. “It was just a little too late.

“We hit some balls hard. East Union did a good job competing, and we were kind of going through the motions for a little bit. I’m not really sure why, but hopefully we will pick it up this week and get after it next week.”

The Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs begin next Tuesday with brackets to be announced on Saturday.